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3035 Spanish November 2003
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CONTENTS
GCE Ordinary Level ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Paper 3035/01 Translation and Composition ................................................................................................ 2
Paper 3035/02 Reading Comprehension ...................................................................................................... 3
FOREWORD
This booklet contains reports written by Examiners on the work of candidates in certain papers. Its contents
are primarily for the information of the subject teachers concerned.
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SPANISH............................................................................................................................. 2
3035 Spanish November 2003
SPANISH
GCE Ordinary Level
Paper 3035/01
Translation and Composition
General comments
The overall performance of candidates was good, in line with previous sessions of the examination. They
were aware of the type of questions set and used the time effectively to complete all tasks. A very few
individuals answered too many questions – close attention should be paid to the rubric. Examiners noted a
marked improvement in candidates’ awareness of the advantage of including a good variety of tenses and
structures in the essay questions in order to gain access to the maximum marks available.
Comments on specific questions
Question 1
The scenario appealed to candidates who responded well and communicated the story effectively. The
picture story lent itself naturally to the inclusion of dialogue – whether as a discussion within the family
depicted at the beginning and the end of the story or the group of friends deciding how to raise funds for the
hurricane victims. Candidates are advised to take advantage of such opportunities in order to demonstrate
their ability to use present and future tenses. There were no specific language difficulties in approaching this
task. Most candidates were able to use the preterite tense although irregular verbs were frequently
inaccurate.
Question 2
(a)
The letter has always proved a popular option and the subject matter was accessible to candidates.
Examiners would like to warn candidates against an increasing trend to include general material on
the lines of news of family and friends, health and the weather. Where such material is not
requested by the question it cannot score and its inclusion obviously reduces the number of words
available to complete the task set. This is not to be recommended. Candidates should also be
aware that repeated phrases such as mis amigos y yo do not score each time they appear.
(b)
Fewer candidates chose this option, but there were some good answers where much negotiation
took place between the customer and the shop-keeper. There was good variety of phrases and
vocabulary. Care was needed in moving from the past to the present tense in discussing the
purchase and current problems and there was some tendency to repeat expressions. Similarly,
candidates should be instructed that they do not gain any marks for introductory material in prose
form before the dialogue – or indeed a concluding paragraph. Such material is not marked, thus
reducing considerably the quantity of work available for assessment.
(c)
The essay option dealt with a topic which seemed to reflect candidates’ experience and led to
some interesting pieces of work. The fact that this question requires a more sustained use of the
past tense in recounting the events of the birthday party means that candidates should plan
carefully in order to avoid over-use of common verb forms such as fui and fuimos as they cannot
gain marks repeatedly for the same material.
With reference to all options in Question 1 and Question 2, it was pleasing to note that candidates are
striving to demonstrate the range of their knowledge and are more aware of the advantage of learning and
using idiomatic expressions and structures such as those involving the infinitive as well as trying to make
their work as interesting as possible by adding adjectives and adverbs where appropriate.
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3035 Spanish November 2003
Question 3
This option was well done by candidates who had been thoroughly prepared in the particular skills required
for translation. It is important to emphasise that they may not paraphrase the passage, but must translate
exactly what is set, with all details included. There was an improvement in the correct usage of gustar and
preterite/imperfect tenses. A number of candidates found the subjunctive clauses challenging. Vocabulary
should not have caused difficulty, but some fairly common words which were not secure included peligroso,
fuego, pelear (or synonyms).
Paper 3035/02
Reading Comprehension
General comments
A broad range of ability was in evidence, though this year it was very pleasing to see a substantial number of
sound performances from candidates who had clearly been well prepared to cope with the demands of this
examination. As usual there was an incline of difficulty on the question paper, with Section 1 being the
easiest and Section 3 the most demanding.
Comments on specific questions
Here follow some details about how the candidates performed, together with the correct answers to the
various questions.
Section 1
Exercise 1 Questions 1 - 6
Done well by most of the candidates, who scored 5 or 6 out of 6. The most common errors were in
Question 2, where a considerable number of candidates opted for D, probably because they were unfamiliar
with cinturón. The correct answers were as follows:
Question 1: D; Question 2: A; Question 3: B; Question 4: C; Question 5: C; Question 6: A
Ejercicio 2
Question 7
Done extremely well. Nearly all of the candidates scored full marks. The correct answers were as follows:
(a), (b), (d), (f), (h), (i), (j).
Exercise 3 Questions 8 - 14
Done well by many candidates, but a significant minority got confused in Question 9 and opted for the wrong
answer, perhaps because the return of Michael Jordan would seem to imply that he had not yet finished as a
basketball player, but it is clear that he had already stopped playing professionally (otherwise he could not
have made a return). The correct answers were as follows:
Question 8: V; Question 9: V; Question 10: V; Question 11: F; Question 12: F; Question 13: F;
Question 14: V
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3035 Spanish November 2003
Section 2
Exercise 1 Questions 15 - 22
Some very good performances on this exercise with a majority of candidates scoring at least 6 of the 9
marks available. The most common mistakes were opting for the wrong option in Questions 15 and 21,
perhaps because candidates misunderstood the text, and choosing one of the three wrong options in
Question 22. The correct answers were as follows:
Question 15: Lower option; Question 16: Lower option; Question 17: Upper option; Question 18: Lower
option; Question 19: Lower option; Question 20: Lower option; Question 21: Upper option; Question 22: C
Exercise 2
This proved quite a straightforward exercise for middling and better candidates. Correct answers were as
follows:
Question 23
Tenía que ayudar a la familia/Su padre le dijo que tenía que trabajar/Tenía que ganar
dinero.
Question 24
Cuando vendía pocos bolígrafos y lápices/Cuando ganaba poco dinero.
Question 25 (a) Tienen contacto con su familia/Tienen una casa donde dormir.
(b) No tienen ni casa ni familia.
Question 26
Any 2 of: Es la capital/Hay muchos niños en la calle/Los niños viven en condiciones
difíciles.
Question 27
Any 2 of: Es un lugar tranquilo/Está fuera de la ciudad/Pueden hacer nuevos amigos.
Not acceptable were items from Zuima’s comments; the question specified the
contribution of Luis.
Question 28
Ir a clase/Ir a la escuela/Estudiar/La educación.
Question 29
Any 2 of: Desayuno/Ducha/Facilidades para lavar ropa.
Section 3
Exercise 1 Questions 30 - 49
There were some extremely impressive performances on the Cloze Test and many candidates had clearly
been well prepared for this demanding test. The correct answers were as follows:
Question 30
porque/pues
Question 31
estaba
Question 32
no
Question 33
me
Question 34
de/como
Question 35
para/a
Question 36
mi/la
Question 37
al
Question 38
hacía
Question 39
por/a/hasta/durante
Question 40
lo
Question 41
las
Question 42
desde
Question 43
le
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3035 Spanish November 2003
Question 44
a
Question 45
que
Question 46
en/para
Question 47
vez/lugar
Question 48
era/es
Question 49
con
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